Some bodybuilders have great success carb cycling to lose weight. However, it’s not for everyone. You can still lose weight and body fat and enjoy plentiful carbs. For example, Professional Natural Bodybuilding Association (PNBA) athlete Marc Cheatham said he was able to drop 40 pounds without cutting out carbs.
Marc Cheatham was a competitive 2021 Natural Olympia athlete and has signed a multi-media contract with Generation Iron, International Natural Bodybuilding Association (INBA)/PNBA, and Iron Man Magazine. Marc Cheatham released a statement concerning his transformation on February 7, 2022, on Instagram (IG). Cheatham said:
“The only competition is the old version of yourself. The guy on the left was lazy, moody, didn’t workout, ate gushers and pop tarts everyday and I was 40lbs heavier than I ever been. I was hiding behind my shirts wearing black all day cuz it made me look slimmer. Then I got tired of feeling that way! Got back focused on my food!”
Marc Cheatham says he didn’t have to do anything extreme to lose 40 pounds. He still ate carbs and enjoyed the food. Cheatham claims the nutrition targets he hit – calories, protein, fat, and carbs – played the most prominent role in his weight loss achievement. Cheatham stated:
“I’ve mastered how to eat to lose body fat! It’s really a simple process you don’t have to do any extreme things. You don’t have to cut out carbs or eat plain ass food all day. You just need to know your numbers and focus on hitting them everyday. When you put your focus on your food and get that in order first you will see great results 100% of the time.”
You can see Marc Cheatham’s complete transformation below on Instagram.
Importance of Carbs
Even though Marc Cheatham ate carbs during his 40 pounds weight loss journey, he admitted he wasn’t stuffing his face with Gushers and Pop-Tarts every day anymore. Although as Cheatham professed, it was hitting personal nutrition targets that got the job done, not what he ate.
Losing weight and dropping body fat comes down to calories in vs. calories out. As long as you burn more body fat than you consume, you’ll drop weight and fat. You can eat whatever you want to lose weight if you’re hitting your nutrition numbers.
However, to maximize your body composition, you’ll also need to eat enough protein since protein is imperative for building muscle. Moreover, carbs are vital for your workouts. Carbs are your body’s primary energy source and give your muscle glycogen stores. So you’ll need carbs to feel energized and to maximize muscle growth.
Natural Bodybuilding
INBA/PNBA natural bodybuilders have the best training and nutrition strategies to build the most elite natural physiques on the planet since they can’t rely on drugs. For example, the first-ever Natural Olympia champion, John Hansen, discovered that training a muscle group only once a week with heavy weight in the 6-8 rep range worked the best. Anymore volume leads to overtraining for him.
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